Across the Fence: Roy Bean, Scoundrel With a Law Book

Phantly Roy Bean Jr., more popularly known as Judge Roy Bean, was born sometime around 1825 in Mason County, Kentucky. Roy was the youngest of five siblings who were raised in poverty by Roy Sr. and his wife Anna.

At around 16 years of age, Roy left home on a flatboat bound for New Orleans with the hopes of finding work. But it seems that Roy Jr. was more adept at finding trouble than finding work. Or perhaps it was more often that trouble found Roy. At any rate, New Orleans proved to be a cauldron of misfortune for the impetuous, trouble-prone youth and in order to insure the possibility of a longer life, young Roy fled New Orleans for the sanctuary of his older brother Sam in San Antonio, Texas.

Sam was a teamster who had hauled freight from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico and further south across the border to Chihuahua. Sam Bean had also fought in the Mexican-American War and after the war established a freighting business out of San Antonio. With Roy's arrival in San Antonio, the two brothers worked together and built their freighting business. In 1848 they opened a trading post in the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. It was there that Roy and trouble met once again.

Western history pulls no punches when it comes to describing the life of a freighter in the early days of westward expansion. Teamsters were generally wild and rugged men who drank much, swore often and fought constantly, a lifestyle that Roy seems to have embraced. And so it was that in some remote cantina a certain, overly indulged desperado made bold threats that he was going to "kill a gringo." Apparently Roy assumed that he was the gringo in question and promptly shot and killed the unfortunate Mexican who had let his whiskey do the talking. Not wishing to be arrested and charged with murder by the Mexican authorities, Roy and brother Sam wasted no time in leaving Mexico and headed further west.

In the spring of 1849, Roy drifted into San Diego, California where another brother, Joshua, had taken up residence. In 1850 Joshua Bean, the last alcalde of San Diego, was elected mayor in the first official United States election. Joshua Bean served as mayor from 1850 until 1851. It seems that illegal endeavors ran in the Bean family for while serving as mayor, Joshua illegally sold City Hall and city land to himself and a fellow larcenist by the name of Cave Couts. Joshua was forced to surrender his political position and relocated to San Gabriel.

Whatever trade Roy was involved with, womanizing seems to have been his pastime. Roy was no doubt a dashing and daring young man who many women considered to be quite handsome. There were many local ladies who vied for Roy's attention and he was more than willing to oblige even though some ladies might also seek the attention of other caballeros.

It was just such a situation that resulted in a challenge from a jealous Scotsman named Collins. Collins challenged Roy to a horseback shooting match that would result in the loser giving up all hope of romance with the lady in dispute. Collins chose the weapons, pistols, and Roy was required to choose the targets. Perhaps it is not surprising that Roy decided that the targets should be human and the two would shoot at each other.

The duel was fought on the 24th of February, 1852. Roy escaped unharmed however Collins received a non-fatal wound to his arm. Both men were arrested under charges of attempted murder and sentenced to an extended term in the local jail.

During his time in jail, Roy Bean received several gifts of food, flowers, wine, cigars and countless letters of affection from various ladies in San Diego. No doubt his most cherished gift during his brief stay behind bars was the homemade tamales with concealed knives. Roy used the knives to dig through the walls of his cell and escaped. Apparently he was not vigorously pursued and was soon relocated in San Gabriel, California, where he took a job in brother Joshua's saloon. Roy inherited the saloon in November of 1852 when his brother Joshua was killed in a heated dispute over a woman. Like brother like brother.

But Roy was slow to learn his lesson about trouble and women. In 1854, he was courting a young Mexican lady when she was kidnapped and forced to marry an officer of the Mexican army. Roy took exception to being wronged and demanded satisfaction from the new groom by way of a duel. Roy walked away from the duel while the officer lay dying.

To avenge the killing of their friend, six men abducted Roy, bound his hands behind him and sat him horseback. They flung a rope over a sturdy branch, tied the noose around his neck and rode off. The horse did not bolt but walked slowly away as Roy slid from the horses back and was left to strangle. The young lady in question, now a widow, had been hiding nearby and ran to save her lover. Roy Bean carried the rope-burn scar around his neck for the rest of his life and ever after sported a permanent crook in his neck from dislocated vertebrae.

Roy left California and the young Senorita who had saved his life. Brother Sam was still in New Mexico and had recently been elected as the first sheriff of Dona Ana County. Sam held the sheriff's position until 1860. In 1861 Sam and Roy owned and operated a mercantile and saloon in Pinos Altos in present day Grant County, New Mexico. In addition to regular dry goods the store advertised liquor and a fine billiard table. Roy, in typical flamboyance, displayed his prized cannon at the store's entrance. The cannon had been used several years before, against the Apache, during a raid on Pinos Altos.

At the beginning of the Civil War the Confederate Army invaded Mexico but were forced to retreat to San Antonio. Roy took money from his brothers safe, joined the retreating army and for the remainder of the war ran the Union blockades selling cotton and returning with supplies for the Confederate Army. For Roy it was strictly a business deal.

After the war and over the next 20-some years Roy lived in San Antonio working occasionally as a teamster. For a while he ran a firewood business, selling his neighbors timber. The dairy business proved to be a little too profitable and he was run out of business when it was discovered that he was watering down the milk. As a butcher, he was marginally successful but rustling beef from neighboring ranchers became a little too risky.

In 1866, Roy Bean attempted to settle down and married young Virginia Chavez. Less than a year later Roy was arrested for assault when he threated to kill Virginia. Despite their volatile relationship, they had four children but struggled to survive in deplorable poverty. Eventually Roy opened a saloon in the area as it began to prosper from the inflow of railroad workers. However, another storeowner bought out Roy for $900. Roy took the money, abandoned Virginia, left his four children with friends and headed west.

With those earnings Roy Bean bought a tent, a few supplies and ten barrels of whiskey and established a saloon on the Pecos River in a tent city named Vinegaroon. There were at the time more than 8,000 railroad workers within 20 miles of the city and Roy Bean dispensed the liquid that kept them coming back.

The area was booming and Fort Stockton, 200 miles distant, was the nearest court. To save the 400-mile round trip, the Texas Rangers requested a local jurisdiction be established at Vinegaroon. So, on August 2, 1882 Roy Bean was appointed Justice of the Peace and established the first "Law west of the Pecos."

Roy turned his saloon into a courthouse, acquired an 1879 edition of the Revised Statutes of Texas and called his court to order. It is said that if newer, revised editions of the statutes ever made it to Vinegaroon, Judge Bean used them for kindling.

Bean ruled less by law and more by whim. A stranger, found dead on the prairies, was brought to Bean, as acting coroner. The stranger had no identification but carried a pistol in his pocket along with $40. Bean charged the dead stranger with carrying a concealed weapon and fined him $40.

Although sometimes referred to as a "Hanging Judge." Bean only ever sentenced two men to hang and one of them escaped before the sentence was carried out. Fines generally equaled the amount a person had and all proceeds went to Judge Bean and jury members were required to buy drinks during any court recess. As Justice of the Peace, Bean charged $10 for a divorce and $5 for a wedding, ending each wedding service with, "...and may God have mercy on your souls."

Judge Roy Bean died in his saloon on March 16, 1903.

M. Timothy Nolting is an award winning Nebraska columnist and freelance writer. To contact Tim, email; [email protected]